David Keith and his team from the University of Calgary have been developing an air capture machine capable of sucking carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for a while now. The technology they're working on is different from the more common carbon capture and storage technologies that entail installation of machines inside coal plants themselves. The captured carbon dioxide from the power plant is then pipelined underground. The technology Keith and company are working on can capture carbon dioxide from the ambient air anywhere the machine is installed.

According to Physorg, the machine Keith and his team are working on can capture a ton of carbon dioxide using less than 100 kilowatt-hours of electricity. Admittedly, as of now, the electricity used for the machine would have to come from coal plants. The air capture machine however, can capture 10 times more carbon dioxide than what's emitted for the energy to run it. In the future, it would be ideal if it could run on renewable energy instead. The air capture technology is still in its very early stages but when it does fly, the people involved in its development believe it would be a good complement to the campaign for energy efficient technologies and development of renewable energies.